Handles are commonly provided for plastic shopping bags as a means to facilitate the carrying of groceries and other merchandise. One such carrying handle for supporting a shopping bag is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,894 (issued to RUTENS). RUTENS' carrying handle is a U-shaped, arcuate member that has upwardly disposed eye-loops on its distal ends for engagement with the loops of the shopping bag. The handle is easily attached to the shopping bag loops and is reusable.
The rounded, middle portion of the above-mentioned handle is uncomfortable, however, when one is carrying heavily-ladened shopping bags, or when it is gripped for long periods of time. The arcuate middle portion does not easily conform to a person's natural hand grip, and it tends to bite into the exterior fingers and palm of the hand of the user. In addition, the large, U-shaped, middle portion is not well designed for bags that are heavily ladened, as they tend to twist and rock about the distal loops.
The present applicants have analyzed the problems of the above-identified handle, and have determined that the large, U-shaped, arcuate middle portion offers a large moment of inertia with respect to the distal, contact loops. This large moment of inertia causes the aforementioned instability, when carried, of large or heavily-ladened shopping bags.
The present inventors seek to provide an improved shopping bag handle, one which is more comfortable to grip, and one which has a lower moment of inertia with respect to the contact loops disposed upon the distal ends.
The inventors have determined that the shopping bag handle should have a middle portion, with its central axis passing approximately through the contact point between the distal end loops and the shopping bag loops. This improved moment of inertia provides a more stabilized handle, which will easily accommodate heavily-ladened shopping bags without their swaying or rocking about the handle.
Applicants'carrying handle for shopping bags has been designed with a rounded middle portion for an ergonomically easy grip. The middle portion has an easily gripped, rounded cross-section and a substantially shallow, convex arc along its elongated, longitudinal axis. The convex arc of the middle portion provides a low moment of inertia with respect to the distal eye-loops. To prevent deflection under load, the cross-section is approximately one-half of an inch thick at the center of the middle portion. The elongated middle portion gradually tapers towards the eye-loops on the distal ends. The rounded cross-section of the eye-loops is approximately three-eighths of an inch. The smaller cross-section at the ends of the handle provide easy threading of the plastic loops of a shopping bag onto the handle's eye-loops. The smaller eye-loop cross-section also provides stability, as the center of gravity is concentrated at the larger, cross-sectioned middle portion of the handle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved carrying handle for shopping bags.
It is another object of this invention to provide a shopping bag carrying handle that has a minimized moment of inertia, so as to prevent the swaying and rocking of the shopping bag about the handle.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a shopping bag carrying handle that has its center of gravity concentrated at a mid-section thereof, in order to improve the stability, when carried, of a heavily-ladened shopping bag.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an improved, ergonomic, carrying handle for shopping bags.